Winter Wonderland in Albuquerque
by awabblertoday
Summary: Last Day! 45/45! Troy is injured during a snowball fight and reverts back to his childhood when he and Ryan were best friends.


A/N: You can see how many of my Author's Notes are/probably will be around the same, and I may start to copy and paste them. Being said, it doesn't allow me to own any characters (unless stated otherwise) any more than normal.

This is sorta cannon, though not really. Here, Gabriella comes to the school during spring semester of their SOPHOMORE year, rather than junior year. So, this takes place after the second movie, in the fall of their JUNIOR year. This is NOT High School Musical 3, because this is not their senior year. Also, Troy and Gabriella aren't dating. They like each other but don't want to ruin their friendship with the struggles of dating. Chad and Taylor don't have a label, but they kiss and hang around each other a lot.

Fandom: High School Musical Pairing(s): sorta Troy/Ryan; Chad/Taylor Words: 2,762 Warning(s): slash

It is Christmas break for the juniors at East High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Seven juniors two athletes, two brainiacs, two socialites and a musical genius are gathered in the kitchen at the Bolton residence for some snowy fun. It is only two days before Christmas and December has finally had its first snowfall. Taylor McKessie, the event planner of the bunch leaning against the pantry, has an itinerary that Kelsi, the pianist sitting at the table, is eager to enjoy. Gabriella, the newcomer and Troy's latest possible love interest leaning against the freezer-refrigerator with flamboyant choreographer Ryan, questions why they even have a plan at all.

"This is winter break. Last year, my mo forced me to go to some party with people I didn't know. This year, why can't we just have fun?"

"I'm game." Troy, the basketball captain, jumps off the counter. "Snowball fight?"

Chad jumps off the other side in agreement. Sharpay sighs, following Kelsi who she had been sitting next to. They grab gloves and coats, racing out into the winter wonderland. Even Taylor has fun despite her planning skills being left inside. Due to the uneven amount of people over, it is a free-for-all game rather than teams. While there is already a heavy amount of snow on the ground, there are more ivory flakes whistling down from above. The teens are laughing and having a great time when suddenly a rough iceball whizzes through the crowd, striking Troy in the chest. It knocks him off-guard and he trips over a gopher hole in the yard. His head crashes into a decorative rock from his mom's garden and his eyes screw shut.

When Troy awakes, the first thing he notices is he isn't too cold. He feels the ground but inside comes up with hard wood. His head hurts some, but not as bad as he would think. He carefully sits up and pats the back of his head with a gloved hand. He then looks around, realizing he is in his treehouse. His red cape is on the floor beside him and the little robot looks like it's been played with. He then notices a young boy playing with the ship wheel. He quietly crawls toward him, coming to see that he is blonde and wearing a pink-and-blue snow jumper. The wood beneath him creaks and the blonde boy swivels around so quick.

"Troy!" He gushes. "You're alive!"

"Hey, yeah." Troy squeaks out, grabbing at his throat because of the soft, childish voice which had just been emitted from it.

"MISSUS LUCY!" The kid shrieks.

Immediately, Troy hears a set of heavy footsteps, followed by a child's footsteps. They are climbing the tree with intensity. Troy secretly hopes it is his mom, considering her name is Lucille Bolton. Sure enough, his mom appears, but she looks a lot younger. As soon as she notices him, she is on the floor, coddling him.

"Are you okay, Troy, honey? That was a nasty spill."

"What happened?" Troy wants to cry because he is so scared. "What happened to my voice?"

"Sweetheart, your voice is perfectly normal. You slipped on a bad patch of ice while you two were playing Pirates." She glances up to the blonde boy. "You're lucky Ryan got you out of the cold and called me."

Troy's eyes widen at the mention of the name. "R-Ryan?"

A little girl then comes into view. She has dark skin and is wearing an orange-and-purple snow jumper. She also has a stethoscope hanging very loosely around her neck, and she is carrying a First Aid kit. She drops down next to Troy and starts placing the stethoscope around Troy's coat.

"What're you doing?"

"Checking the patient." She replies with a matter of urgency in her voice.

"Taylor," Mrs. Bolton places a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you go play with Ryan inside."

She nods and looks over to Ryan. He shrugs and the two climb out of the tree. Before Troy can say a word, his mother sets him against the wall.

"What is your name?"

"Troy."

"Good, now, where are you?"

He looks around. "My treehouse."

"Alright," She smiles. "And how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Troy." She reprimands. "That's not funny. How old are you?"

He glances around, remembering the young kids. He hesitates. "Six?"

She purses her lips. "You turned eight in July. Do you still want to go on your sleepover tonight?"

He nods. A night with Chad should clear things up. It seems to be the answer she was looking for. She smiles and pats his head.

"Go on ahead and play. Ryan, Taylor and Chad should be in the kitchen."

"Gabriella's not here?"

"Who's that?"

Troy looks at her blankly before remembering Gabriella hadn't been around when they were children. Taking a risk, he replies.

"Ryan's sister?"

She gives him an amused smile. "You mean Sharpay. No, she's at her house, I suppose. I'm sure you'll see her at your sleepover."

A little later, Troy and his mom have left the treehouse and he walks into the kitchen. Seven-year-old Chad runs up to his best friend, giving him a tackle-hug.

"Alright, Troy!"

"Hey, Chad." He greets his best friend with a smile. "I'm alive."

Ryan suddenly looks over with interest. "Daddy's bringing the car over, Mrs. Lucy."

"Alright. Troy?"

"Yeah?"

"Your backpack's in the living room by the door."

"Okay." He turns to Chad. "C'mon, let's go."

"Go where?" He looks at him confused.

"To the, sleepover?"

"I'm not going." Chad shakes his head. "I'm grounded."

"Grounded?"

"Don't you remember?" Mrs. Bolton walks in. "That's why Taylor's over here. She's helping Chad with his math. The car is in our driveway, honey. Say bye and let's go."

"Bye." Troy waves as he grabs his backpack and climbs in a small black car. Ryan hops in after him.

"Did you get took by aliens or something?" The blond turns to the brunette once the car is in motion.

"Huh?"

"When you fell down. Did you get took by aliens?"

|-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-|

Sixteen-year-old Troy is lying on the couch in his living room with an ice pack on his head. The crowd has dispersed. Kelsi and Gabriella are in the kitchen, talking things over. Ryan and Sharpay are nosing through the halls. Chad is in Troy's bedroom and Taylor is watching over the injured teen. Chad has spent most of his childhood here and Ryan has spent a good part of it here as well, though he suppresses those memories.

|-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-|

When they arrive, someone is there to collect Troy's backpack and lead tem to the door. Ryan immediately takes Troy's hand and leads him to an enormous playroom. There is a little blonde girl dolled all in perfect pink playing with a mountain of Barbie dolls. She barely looks up when the boys enter the room.

"Hi, Ryan. Hi, Tory."

"Um, my name is Troy." The brunette is shocked by her nonchalance.

"Sorry." She shrugs. "Mr. Fulton and Martha are coming by later."

"Mr. Fulton?" Troy has to know if it is the same man. "That guy who works at your country club?"

"Um, I guess." She shrugs. "He's our piano teacher." Sharpay then turns to Ryan. "Me and Martha are having a sleepover in the party ballroom so don't come in there."

"I don't wanna!" Ryan calls back. "Me and Troy is gonna have our own sleepover in the wedding ballroom. So there!"

Sharpay glares at her brother and leaves her dolls in a huff. She runs out of the playroom as Ryan ignores her and leaps into the ball pit. Troy takes half a second before jumping in after him. After flailing around and Ryan instigating a playful fight by dunking Troy's head, Mrs. Evans walks in wearing a tennis outfit.

"Hi, Ducky."

"Hi, Mommy!" He calls out breathlessly, 'swimming' to the edge of the pit.

"Having fun?"

"Yep! Me and Troy was playing Sink the Pirate!"

"That's fun. What do you boys want to eat for your sleepover?"

Troy freezes a tad, a lot of thoughts running through his mind over what disgustingly rich foods he'll need to survive on while sitting at the dinner table in a monkey suit.

His thoughts are cut short leaving him dumbfounded however, when Ryan speaks up.

"Pizza, please!"

She chuckles. "And where would you like to eat this pizza, young man?"

"In the game room!" He exclaims. "We can eat it while we play Spyro or Pokemon or Pac-Man!"

"Sounds fun. I'll call you when it gets here."

"Thanks, Mommy!"

Troy is still standing or floating there with his mouth open. Ryan seizes this chance to suddenly leap and tackle the other boy with a giggle. Troy starts laughing too and they continue their made-up game. After a while, Ryan gets out and starts running down the halls and up the stairs. Troy is confused but chases after him anyway.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see!"

|-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-|

Troy is still on the couch. It has been four hours and it is getting dark. Gabriella, Taylor and Kelsi have already left before the blizzard could reach the house. Chad is sitting in the living room tossing a basketball in the air and catching it. Sharpay is in Troy's bedroom now, but Ryan is with her to make sure she doesn't steal anything.

|-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-|

Ryan and Troy are now wearing swimming trunks and holding squirt guns in the spa room. No one is using it at the moment, so the boys are having fun with the automatic showers and the running and hiding. After a while though, Troy gets hungry and the boys change into their pajamas. Pizza hasn't come yet, so Ryan leads Troy to the pallet room. The ceiling is filled with phony twinkling stars, but it has a sunroof for nighttime. Ryan clicks the button and the sunroof opens, revealing not as sparkly but twice as many stars. While Troy is trying to find constellations, Ryan surprise attacks him with the flash of a disposable camera.

"What's that?"

"A camera." Ryan grins, taking another picture. "Flash tag!"

He runs away. Troy jumps up and finds another disposable camera. He doesn't pause to look at it too long, but then he notices a flash from behind. He clutches the camera and chases after Ryan. They play flash tag for a good long time until they hear Ryan's mom's voice over the loudspeaker. She tells Sharpay that Mr. Fulton is here and the boys that the pizza is here. They drop their cameras and Ryan leads Troy to the game room. They leap onto two different beanbags and Ryan turns on a game. Pokemon Red.

Mrs. Evans walks in a little after the game has started, with three boxes of pepperoni-and-  
green-pepper pizzas. Ryan grins greedily and has already fished out a slice before his mom can set the boxes down. He thanks for it with his mouth full, while Troy thanks her before even tasting the supper. The boys eat their pizzas with the cokes in the game room mini fridge, playing games until Troy has to use the bathroom. When he returns, the game system is off and Ryan is across the hall, jumping up and down on a wall-spread waterbed. He has a microphone in his hand, belting out songs as the lyrics come up on the screen.

" . Red flower, so I can be like you!"

Troy's eyes glimmer with the sound of his favorite song of his favorite movie. He takes off running and jumps on the bed with Ryan who hands him an extra microphone so they can both belt out the song.

"Ooh-bi-doo, I wanna be like you, I want to walk like you, talk like you too! You see it's true, an ape like me, can learn to be, like you, too!"

After the song is over, the boys are giggling at the absurdity of the song. They are now bouncing on the bed with the microphones lying on the floor.

|-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-|

It is just past midnight and all Troy's friends have gone home. He is still out of it, but is now lying in his bedroom rather than the couch. His parents are talking about him in the other room. His mom thinks he should see a doctor but his dad reminds her that the hospital will be incredibly busy since it is already Christmas Eve. Gabriella isn't asleep. Instead, she is sitting in her bed, staring out the window. Chad is still throwing a basketball in the air and catching it, now in his own room. Taylor, Kelsi and Sharpay are asleep, but Ryan's not. He is in the old playroom, which is now a meditation room. He is sitting in the relaxation tub, which used to be the ball pit, just thinking about his early childhood and his old friendship with the jock.

|-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-|

It is nearing ten o'clock and one of the house servants spot the boys. "You know, your mother was looking for you earlier."

He doesn't have the boy's attention at all. Instead, Ryan's eyes are fixated on the lollipops sticking out of the man's jacket pocket. He follows the boy's eye line and chuckles whole-heartedly. He grabs the two candies, holding them out to the boys.

"You eat these then hurry off to bed, okay?"

They nod and accept the treats. Ryan then leads the way once again. Troy is glad he doesn't have to remember where everything is. Instead of heading upstairs to the ballroom however, Ryan leads them to an indoor playground. There is a jungle gym, a slide, a merry-go-round, monkey bars, a teeter-totter, four swings and a bouncy bridge between the monkey bars and the slide. Ryan grins mischievously and puts a finger to his mouth and whispers.

"Shhhhh, we're a'posed to be sleeping."

Troy nods in conformity and heads directly for the monkey bars. He and Ryan have a lot of fun and it quickly turns into another game of tag. Something nags at Troy in the back of his mind as he tries his hardest to remember what had happened along the way to high school, and why they aren't so close anymore. When Ryan hears hurried footsteps in the hall, he grabs Troy's hand and leads his out a back door. They run through the gym, the craft room, the dress-up room and the skating room. Finally, they backtrack it to the wedding ballroom, where their super-large bouncy air mattress beds await. They aren't tethered down to anything, so when the boys make a running leap onto one bed, it shoves away with a lot of force, pushing the other toward the wall. Suddenly, there is a deafening pop as the second bed deflates. Troy hops off, pushes the one Ryan is on and hops on as well.

"Now what?"

Ryan doesn't find anything wrong with the deflated bed. "We share this one."

The bed they are on finally stills toward the middle of the floor. Ryan hugs Troy like a teddy bear and falls asleep quickly under the blanket. Troy hears footsteps coming toward the room, so he returns the hug and goes to sleep as well. A few servants, as well as Mrs. Evans, Sharpay and Martha run into the room. One of the house-workers comments the source of the noise, taking it away, while Sharpay takes a picture of her brother and Troy with her disposable camera before leaving the room.

|-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-|

It is eight am Christmas Eve morning. The Evans are leaving for their annual vacation, but Ryan has urged they leave without him this year, claiming he is under the weather and mr. Fulton can take care of him. Gabriella and Taylor go on their decathlon retreat. Kelsi has plans with her family. This leaves Chad and Ryan at the Bolton residence. Chad still doesn't trust Ryan, and Ryan fully blames Chad for the ice-ball that hurt Troy. Chad shoves him downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Why do you care? You don't even know him!"

"I know him a lot." Ryan counters, shoving the jock back. "And I care, Danforth."

"I bet you weren't even up half the night in your bedroom last night, thinking about, stuff."

"You're right."

"Ha! 'Cause that's what a real friend does."

"I was up half the night in our spa room, in the relaxation tub. Because it used to be something else ten years ago, when we were really close friends."

Chad stares at Ryan for a minute. Chad and Troy have been friends since they were seven, but best friends since they were nine. Here Ryan is talking about when they were six. He doesn't know if it is a lie or if Ryan just gave an estimate. Either way, it forces him to sit at the table. Ryan does so too, lost in his own thoughts.

|-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-|

Troy awakes the next morning, tangled in bedsheets and Ryan's limbs. He struggles to get out of bed when he suddenly rolls off. He hadn't noticed Mrs. Evans in the room until the crash.

"Did you boys have a good night?"

Ryan yawns. "Yes, Mommy. Can I sleep over at Troy's house tonight?"

She tuts. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Maybe after the holidays."

Troy and Ryan look at her and then at each other. Finally, it dawns on Ryan. He starts jumping up and down, squealing with glee.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE! IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE! Hey, Mommy, can me and Troy go play in the snow?"

She nods. "Dress warm and come back for breakfast when I call!"

"Okay, Mommy!"

Ryan calls out as he zips through the house. Troy chases after him despite being sleepy, since he has no idea where the blonde is off to. He chases him downstairs, where Ryan tosses him a blue-and-green snow jumper. Ryan pulls on his jumper from the other day. Ryan helps with Troy's hat and Troy does the same. They place on their gloves and snowshoes, and run outside to play. In less than twenty minutes, they eagerly build a snowman. Ryan then catches Martha and Sharpay coming out to make snow angels. He and Troy make a plan to start a snowball fight against the girls and it breaks out smoothly. Unfortunately, there had been a rock in the snowball Sharpay hurls at her brother. Ryan ducks just in time, but it instead hits Troy. He is completely knocked out.

|-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-|

Troy just barely awakes, a little after noon on Christmas Eve. He pushes himself to a sitting position as a crimson red blanket in the corner stirs. The blanket is wearing a faded pink baseball cap and tiny tufts of blonde are seeping out. Troy blinks a few times before quietly calling out the name of the boy he had been reliving with.

"Ryan?"

"Troy?" His head lifts up, face etched with worry. "You're alive!"

He rushes to Troy's bedside and immediately gives him an immense hug. Not too long after, he pulls away and stares at the floor sheepishly.

"Sorry, I gotta, little carried away."

"No, you didn't." Troy answers, pulling Ryan onto the bed. "I need a hug. Right now. From you."

Ryan smiles at the genuine gesture and obliges. Troy eventually moves over some and pats the bed next to him. Ryan takes the place without a word spoken, breaking the hug for good purpose. He is shocked when Troy grabs his hand, pulling him closer as they slide under the covers. He is even ore surprised when he pulls their hands over the covers, interlaced hands lying atop. Unknown to the boys, they fall asleep like this. Mrs. Lucy Bolton walks by to check on her son to see a smile on his face, lying beside his best friend from childhood.

"I was wondering when those two would make up." She shakes her head. "And what better time than Christmas Eve."

[][][][] I know I said I don't write kids well, but my young son (he's five) has been showing these sort of feelings for his best friend, and I've become inspired. Well, this reaches the end of my 45-Day Challenge. Fingers crossed. Please reread this and my many others, starting off with Day One from November 9th: "A Gathering of Greendalians" a Community Fanfiction. It depends on my readers' reviews and rereads. Thank you all who read my stories. It means a lot. On that note, good night and Merry Christmas! [][][][] 


End file.
